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Experimenting with social media

There's a lot of talk these days about using social media to engage with your customers (and prospective customers). A huge amount of debate has taken place between those who argue that social media is crucially important to businesses today and those who say the emperor has no clothes.

Who is right? It's hard to say. It appears that there are companies which have used social media successfully and it also appears that a lot of money has been spent on social media campaigns that don't produce results.

For the business trying to make sense of it all and trying to figure out whether or not social media is a worthwhile investment, I think some cautious but prudent experimentation is probably the best route.

Here's some advice for the company that is interested in social media but isn't quite willing to jump in head first.

Listen, within reason. The big buzz word in social media circles is 'conversation.' What are your customers saying about you? But how can you listen to everything people say about your company?

Realistically, you can't. There are some good ways to monitor your 'reputation' online but unless you have a huge amount of free time to invest, you can't follow everything.

Don't respond to everything. Every time your company is mentioned doesn't necessarily represent a good opportunity to create conversation. You're not going to be able to respond to everything so don't make that your goal. You'll be overwhelmed.

Instead, focus on responding when it makes the most sense.

I'd argue that for most companies just getting started, it's worth responding most when some sort of misinformation is being spread about you.

If somebody is writing bad things about your company and using misinformation to back them up, for instance, jumping in and setting the record straight can be beneficial. It doesn't guarantee that you're going to change perceptions but it does give those who read the misinformation a counterargument to consider.

Be sure not to respond angrily or aggressively. Just post the facts and give others the opportunity to contact you if they have further questions.

Note that you probably won't be able to respond to every criticism you receive - nor should you. That's unrealistic.

If you're receiving criticisms left and right, you're probably better off going back to the drawing board and figuring out why people are unhappy instead of trying to respond to each and every complaint directly.

Use the right tools. Just because something happens on a social media website doesn't mean that a response has to be made there. Most conversations in real life are private so don't feel the need to hold a conversation with a customer, prospective customer or former customer out in the open just because you want to show that you're having the conversation.

If you come across a blog post about your company, for instance, and think a response is best made directly to the blogger via email, send that email. Don't feel obligated to post your response publicly because that seems like the social thing to do.

Invite. Sometimes the most powerful tool is an invitation. Instead of trying to create conversations, invite them.

Let people know that you're willing to talk to them on their own terms and give them the chance to make the first move. Oftentimes that's more effective than trying to be everywhere creating a conversation out of everything.

By taking a measured and conservative approach to your first foray into social media, you'll get a better feel for what's out there and whether or not it's something your business can benefit from.

You'll also get a sense whether it's something you can sustain. Jumping in head first only to pull back later can create problems of its own so it's best to take baby steps in my opinion.

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Comments (5)

Interesting post Patrick. A common sense approach to reputation management on social media and anywhere is definitely the right way to go about it.

It is like fighting fires, you don't try and put out several of the peripheral fires using small buckets, you focus your effort on the heart of the fire using a powerful jet of water (pinpoint the main issue that people are talking about and address it), or even better you starve the fire of oxygen and fuel so that it goes out on its own accord (pinpoint the main issue and remove it).

over 9 years ago

Dave Corlett

Certainly an interesting read, and it echoes last week's e-Consultancy article by Karl Havard on brand engagement within social media.

The value of identifying where conversations are taking place, listening to the nature and sentiment of these conversations (and even who has particular influence within them) and taking a subtle, relevant, targeted and engaging approach which will clearly add value to the user's experience cannot be stressed enough!

A really interesting article... one of the problems is that big brands hear so much about social media campaigns and they just decide to try and do something without thinking it through.

Hit the nail on the head about not responding to everything written about your brands on the web, something marketing managers everywhere are keen to do without realising it will only lead to a splurge* of new negative comments.

I have to agree with Andy. Many organisations just go in feet first or do some reactionary attempt.

The very thing that makes social media so powerful is the same thing that will turn people off when they hear the corporate voice. It's a conversation and nobody wants a conversation with Alastair Campbell.

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